From traditional games to robotic games: ethical issues with elders
This academic paper presents and discusses ethical issues related to the interaction of elderly people with robots while playing cognitive games in nursing homes. Four games of increasing difficulty were developed, the last of which involves tele-operating a car-like robot to knock down objects in an arena. The paper addresses key ethical considerations including informed consent, beneficence, anonymity, confidentiality, privacy, social contact, insensitive use of robots, and the risk of deception and infantilisation.
Summary and content fields are drawn from the document text and are pending editorial review.
Who issued it
Who it governs
Researchers and developers in human-robot interaction, assistive technologies, and elder care ethics should read this to understand practical ethical considerations when deploying robots for elderly cognitive activities.
What the document contains
The document covers the hardware, software (ROS/SMACH), and user interface implementation of four cognitive games for the elderly, including one utilizing a tele-operated robot. It details qualitative ethical assessments performed during testing in two nursing homes concerning autonomy, safety, confidentiality, privacy, social contact, and infantilisation.
Quantitative metrics for ethical reasoning and fully autonomous robot behaviors are not provided, as they are left for future work.
- Four cognitive games, culminating in a tele-operated robot game, were developed and tested with 50 elders across two nursing homes.
- Ethical issues such as beneficence, informed consent, and the potential infantilisation of elders were specifically addressed during design and testing.
- The use of a tele-operated car-like robot successfully avoided looking like an animal or doll, preventing some forms of deception.
- Observations in nursing homes showed that the games enhanced social interactions and peer support among the elderly participants.
· 1. Introduction · 2. Game Development - 2.1. Hardware and Software components - 2.2. Classical Games - 2.3. Robot in the Game · 3. Ethical Issues - 3.1. Informed Consent - 3.2. Beneficence- Do not harm - 3.3. Respect for anonymity and confidentiality - 3.4. Respect for privacy - 3.5. Reduction in human social contact - 3.6. The insensitive use of robots - 3.7. The deception and infantilisation of elderly - 3.8. Responsibility, if robots are placed under the control of elderly people · 4. Conclusions and Future Work
How it scores
Each score is backed by a quote verified against the document text. Editorial review has not yet confirmed them.
Accountability
2/5Clear responsibility for AI outcomes
In this case, the responsibility in the control of the robot lies within the nursing home, although the robots and objects to manipulate were built under safety concerns
3.8 Responsibility, if robots are placed under the control of elderly people
screening score · 2026-10-23
Fairness
0/5Non-discrimination and equitable treatment
screening score · 2026-10-23
Human Oversight
4/5Humans remain in control of consequential decisions
At this stage of the research, only one game of the four uses a robot, that is tele-operated, i.e., without autonomy.
3.6 The insensitive use of robots
screening score · 2026-10-23
Privacy
3/5Protection of personal data and private life
In the case of the games developed, they do not gather data of any kind, from any specific elder. All the scores recorded are not linked to any person/elder.
3.3 Respect for anonymity and confidentiality
screening score · 2026-10-23
Transparency
0/5Openness about how AI systems work and are used
screening score · 2026-10-23
Enforcement
0/5Consequences and compliance mechanisms with real force
screening score · 2026-10-23
Impact Assessment
3/5Required assessment of an AI system's risks/impacts before or during use
Several ethical issues were tackled to obtain a proper system with robots: those ethical issues were raised during the design phase and the interaction with the elders.
Introduction
screening score · 2026-10-23